Tuesday, March 29, 2016

Greetings from Julia Roberts!

It’s
always interesting to here from new members of the RNA - in fact any member of
the RNA! Today we welcome author, Julia Roberts.

Like a lot of people, I always believed I
had a novel in me but it was a case of finding the time to write it. I have
worked full-time as a presenter at QVC, the shopping channel, since it went on
air in October 1993 while also working as a freelance for a local cable
television channel and for Sky Sports. I should perhaps mention that my
children were five and six when I started at QVC so I was trying to be a
hands-on Mum too… there was a lot of ball juggling going on! I have huge
admiration for Mums with small children who can concentrate sufficiently to be
creative.It wasn’t until both of my children
had left university that I stopped pontificating and started writing.

My first book was a memoir, called One
Hundred Lengths of the Pool, which was published by Random House and
was initially sold exclusively on QVC. Shortly after that was published, I went
away on holiday to Mauritius with my ‘other half’ to totally relax after a very
demanding year, which included a diagnosis of leukaemia, but things didn’t
quite go to plan. On the first morning I sat on the beach, under the shade of a
palm tree, listening to the sound of the waves crashing on the reef, and I had
an idea for a novel. Over the course of the next ten days, I scribbled copious
notes and talked non-stop about my characters and the plot to my long-suffering
partner and by the time we were heading home on the plane, I had the Liberty
Sands Trilogy mapped out.

The first book in the trilogy, Life’s
a Beach and Then…, took me around fifteen months to write. I then spent
another five months deciding whether I should go down the route of finding
myself an agent and/or publisher.I did
submit to half a dozen agents but without success, although one or two
commented that they liked my ‘voice’. I have left it quite late to embark on a
new career as a writer so I didn’t really have the luxury of time to submit to
more agents and wait for their response. A friend of mine had self-published
and was generous in sharing her cover designer and formatter, and I tracked
down and used the copy editor that Random House had assigned me, as we had a
great working relationship. Three months later my first novel was available as
an ebook and a month after that the paperback was in some independent bookshops
and to order through Waterstones.

I think it is harder to be a
self-published author, particularly from the publicity and marketing viewpoint,
but it does allow the author to have more control over the finished work. It is
also a much speedier process. I began writing the second book in the trilogy, If
He Really Loved Me…, in March 2015 and published it in November. I’m
currently in the final stages of writing the concluding part, It’s Never Too Late to Say…, and aiming
for publication at the end of May.

I was really thrilled to be able to join
the Romantic Novelists’ Association in January and look forward to meeting some
of you at the Summer Party in May.

Fantastic post, Julia and thank you for sharing. It was insightful & inspiring and good timing for me as I'm now embarking on self-publishing myself. It's exciting and daunting but it's great to hear about your positive experience. Best wishes. :)

Thanks for your comments ladies - the name is sometimes a hindrance, Gabrielle, in fact someone suggested I changed my writing name to J G Roberts but I decided to stick with the original.Good luck with your self publishing journey Suzi - if I can be any help at all leave me a message on my webpage www.juliarobertsbooks.co.ukThanks again for having me Elaine x

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Romantic Novelists' Association

We work to enhance and promote the various types of romantic and historical fiction, to encourage good writing in all its many varieties, to learn more about our craft and help readers enjoy it.

Romantic Fiction covers an enormous range, from short stories through category romance and much of women's fiction, to the classics. The nature of romantic fiction means that most of these novels are written and read by women. The RNA, however, boasts a number of very successful male authors amongst their membership.